1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a resilient hitch linkage between a towing vehicle such as a tractor and an implement or attachment mounted on or towed by the towing vehicle in which the resilient hitch linkage serves to reduce impact or shock loads and/or vibrations transmitted between the implement or attachment and the towing vehicle. In the specification which follows, the towing vehicle will be described as a tractor and the towed apparatus will be described as a rotary tiller. However, it will be understood that these are merely illustrative of typical types of towing and towed apparatus between which the resilient hitch linkage of the invention may be connected.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
In the prior art, to the best of my knowledge, it has been the practice to connect an implement or attachment, such as a rotary tiller, for example, to the back of a tractor by means of a hitch having a rigid linkage whereby any impact force or shock force such as might result, for example, when the implement strikes an object embedded in the ground, is transmitted from the implement or attachment to the tractor frame through the rigid linkage with possible structural damage to the tractor or discomfort to the operator of the tractor. Also, the rigid linkage of the prior art which connected the towed implement, such as a rotary tiller, to the tractor permitted the transmission of vibratory forces from the towed implement to the tractor even during normal operation (as distinguished from the transmission of shock or impact forces), frequently causing discomfort to the operator of the tractor even during normal towing operation.
It has been broadly known in the prior art to provide resilient connections between interrelated members. For example, it is known in the art relating to agricultural field cultivators to provide a resilient connection between the shank of a cultivator tool and the supporting frame or tool bar on which the cultivator tool is mounted, which permits the tool shank to flex in any direction as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,243 issued to Alexander H. Mark et al. on Apr. 20, 1971, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application.